Alex Krutchik

MIAMI, Fla. — Otto Lopez quickly impressed people in his first season with the Miami Marlins in 2024. The former waiver claim ended his rookie campaign with a .270 batting average, 20 stolen bases, and elite defense at second base. Offensively, Lopez's main assets were his contact ability and speed. The Dominican native boosted his home run total the following year, from six to 15. Lopez made even more contact and lowered his ground ball rate, yet his overall slugging percentage actually went down. Early in his age-27 season, it's all seemingly coming together. Lopez has found a home in the heart of the Marlins lineup—and near the top of some prestigious leaderboards. Now playing shortstop, Lopez is quantifiably hitting the ball harder than he ever has. Entering Tuesday, his hard-hit rate of 53.6% puts him above the 90th percentile of MLB hitters. Contrast that with the previous two seasons, when he ranked below average. The only qualified shortstop who edges him out in that category is Gunnar Henderson of the Baltimore Orioles (53.8%). His barrel rate—defined by Baseball Savant as the percentage of balls put into play with a perfect combination of exit velocity and launch angle—is also a career-high of 13.0%. This has culminated in a team-best 10 extra-base hits, the latest being a go-ahead RBI double in Monday's Marlins win. From a physical standpoint, Lopez credits hitting coaches Pedro Guerrero and Chris Hess with helping him engage his lower body more than his upper. He’s also been toying with “The Stack” this year, which is a bat-like tool with added weights that help improve swings, specifically by increasing bat speed. Lopez’s average bat speed is slightly higher than it was last year (72.1 miles per hour compared to 71.7 in 2025). Marlins manager Clayton McCullough says Lopez’s newfound power production is not just a byproduct of how he’s swinging, but what he’s swinging at. His pitch selection is allowing him to capitalize on the pitches he can inflict the most damage on, as opposed to just putting a ball in play. “There's less empty at-bats,” McCullough said. “There's less early-count chase. There's been less early-count soft contact. I think he just looks very hitterish right now.” Perhaps most impressive has been Lopez’s ability to add power without sacrificing his contact ability. His 16.3% strikeout rate and 19.5% whiff rate are both roughly on par with his typical career marks. “I think he has just given himself more of a chance to do this with consistency and regularity because the (pitches) that he's firing at give him the best chance to do that,” McCullough said. Getting balls up, out, over the plate, getting them elevated, or pitches that he can drive.” misisx.mp4 If Lopez were to maintain his .554 slugging percentage throughout 2026, it would be the 11th-highest single-season mark in Marlins history. The only shortstop who has ever topped that for this franchise was Hanley Ramírez in 2007 (.562 SLG), on his way to placing 10th in National League MVP voting. “He's a physically strong guy,” McCullough said of the 5’10”, 185-pound shortstop. “Maybe it doesn't appear that way. It's a really compact body. He's strong. He's got strong hands. There's speed in his bat. So I think it's not, to me, that completely shocking, that we're seeing some of this.” View full article

In advance of his season debut on Sunday, Marlins outfielder Kyle Stowers speaks with the media about his recovery from a hamstring strain and comfort level at first base. View full video

MIAMI, Fla. — The Miami Marlins defense did not have a stellar beginning to the 2026 season, but it seemed like they got sharper towards the end of their most recent road trip in Detroit and Atlanta. Friday’s 7-5 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers felt like a regression to their previous ways. The Brewers took a 3-0 lead with a fourth inning that was marred by bad defense. The Marlins caught up with a two-run home run from Otto Lopez in the seventh and an RBI double from Agustin Ramirez the following inning that tied the game at 4-4. Marlins reliever Calvin Faucher loaded the bases in the 10th inning with a single and a walk on a pitch clock violation. Luis Rengifo hit a ground ball to Xavier Edwards, who threw home to Ramirez. Although the throw was on target, Ramirez, for lack of a better phrase, whiffed on the catch. The ball rolled to the backstop, allowing the go-ahead run to score. “From where I was sitting, it looked like (Ramirez) tried to make play number two before play one,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “It looked like he just kind of came out of there, really trying to get that 4-2-3 double play and just vacated a little too soon.” For his part, Ramirez was accountable and direct when asked what happened postgame: “I missed it.” That miss wasn’t the first miscue Ramirez made Friday. In the aforementioned fourth inning, Luis Rengifo stood on third with two out. Ramirez attempted to pick him off, but the throw sailed into left field, allowing him to score. It was Ramirez’s third throwing error of the season. Ramirez wasn’t alone in the defensive breakdowns in that inning. Starting pitcher Janson Junk allowed a single, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch to load the bases with one out. Brewers centerfielder Garrett Mitchell hit a soft ground ball to the right side of the infield. Junk, second baseman Xavier Edwards, and first baseman Connor Norby all converged on the ball. Edwards wound up fielding the ball, but nobody was left to cover the bag. By the time Norby got back to first, Mitchell was safe, and a run had scored. Junk took some of the fault, saying he momentarily went for the ball instead of sprinting to first base from the get-go. “The angle I was taking, it felt like the ball was a little bit higher than what I could get to,” Junk said. “And with that split second doubt, I was going to have one of the fielders (get to the ball). It's not like I'm looking back exactly where we're positioned. I think he just hit it in the perfect spot. When I turned around, it was like, ‘oh crap. this is gonna be difficult to get back (to first base).” Norby took reps at first base and the outfield during spring training. But when starting first baseman Christopher Morel suffered a left oblique strain on Opening Day, Norby was thrust into that spot—a position he hadn’t played as a pro. Prior to Friday, Norby had actually recorded zero outs above average, according to Statcast, making him a league-average first baseman by that metric. The Marlins rank fourth-worst among MLB teams this season in defensive runs saved with minus-7, according to FanGraphs. View full article

Marlins closer Pete Fairbanks speaks with the media following Friday's game. Fairbanks pitched a scoreless ninth inning and earned his first save with his new club. View full video

MIAMI — Sandy Alcantara got to leave the mound Friday night knowing he was at the apex of what he’s capable of. It’s a feeling he didn’t have after last year’s Opening Day. The 2022 Cy Young winner pitched well to start last season against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He allowed no hits and walked two through four innings that afternoon, but faltered in the fifth, giving up two runs on two walks and two hits before being pulled in the 5-4 win. It was Alcantara’s first start since undergoing Tommy John surgery after the 2023 season. But Friday was different. Alcantara allowed zero earned runs in seven innings against the Colorado Rockies and retired nine of his last ten batters faced. Unlike his Opening Day start last year, he was able to finish his final frame with relative ease, coming off the field to a standing ovation from the 32,459 in attendance at loanDepot park. “I think I prepared myself very good in the past week for today,” Alcantara said. “I think the hard work I put in the last bullpen I threw was amazing, and today was a great result to me.” Alcantara was perfect in his first frame of work. Even when he allowed a leadoff single to Ezequiel Tovar to start the second, it was negated by a soft ground ball off the bat of TJ Rumfield to shortstop Otto Lopez that turned into a double play. Relievers Andrew Nardi, Anthony Bender, and Pete Fairbanks combined to pitch two scoreless innings to lock down the 2-1 win. It was hopefully an omen of a successful season for Alcantara, who struggled in the first half of 2025 (7.22 ERA) before showing flashes of his old self in the latter half (3.33 ERA). Friday was the second time that a Marlins pitcher allowed zero earned runs over seven or more innings in an Opening Day start, joining Kevin Brown in 1997. View full article

MIAMI — Two hours prior to the first pitch of the 2026 season, the Miami Marlins announced Christopher Morel strained his left oblique and was scratched from the starting lineup. After the Marlins' 2-1 win, manager Clayton McCullough said Morel would go through more imaging on Saturday. Morel signed with the Marlins over the offseason on a one-year, $2 million deal. The 26-year-old was slated to get a bulk of his reps at first base, a position he had never played in the majors. He mostly played all three outfield spots, along with second base, third, and shortstop in his four years with the Chicago Cubs and Tampa Bay Rays. The Marlins ran into injury troubles in the final week of spring training, losing outfielders Kyle Stowers (right hamstring strain) and Esteury Ruiz (left oblique strain) on the same night. The Marlins have preached defensive versatility for years, but even more so under second-year manager Clayton McCullough. Whoever gets slotted into first base will have had experience there in the regular season or this most recent iteration of spring training. Here’s how that spot can be filled: Connor Norby This is the natural place to start. In a pinch, Norby was slotted into the first base spot Friday after Morel was scratched. He made a few moderately-challenging plays, including stretching out for a wide throw from catcher Agustin Ramirez and a pop out along the wall in foul territory. Originally a third baseman his first two years in Miami, Norby got reps in the outfield and first base this spring. During McCullough’s pregame media availability Friday—before Morel’s injury was announced—he said Norby would see “quite a bit of action” at first base. Liam Hicks The Marlins carried three catchers on their roster for a few months last year, with Hicks, veteran Nick Fortes, and highly-rated prospect Agustín Ramírez all vying for playing time. Hicks was able to stay in the lineup by playing 28 games at first base, racking up one out above average, according to Baseball Savant. Side note on another catcher that some fans have asked to go to first base: the Marlins have made it very clear that Ramírez will continue getting reps as a catcher only. Deyvison De Los Santos De Los Santos is currently the only member of the 40-man roster who considers first base his natural position. Promoting him would be an easy choice, albeit a controversial one as he has more to prove in the minors. The right-handed power hitter Miami got in a trade from the Arizona Diamondbacks raised his walk rate from 5.2% in 2024 to 8.1% in 2025, his highest in his Triple-A career. But his power still hasn’t adjusted to playing at sea level. Even in the pitcher-friendly International League he plays in now, his slugging percentage of .363 last season was paltry. On Friday's opening game for Jacksonville De Los Santos went 2-for-4 with a home run and a walk. Should De Los Santos remain in Jacksonville for the near future, the Marlins would still need to call up a position player of some kind to fill Morel's spot on the active roster. View full article

Marlins right-hander Chris Paddack speaks with Fish On First about the significance of Opening Day at this stage of his career and preparing for a full-circle moment when he pitches on Monday. View full video

Marlins outfielder Griffin Conine speaks with Fish On First about experiencing Opening Day for the second time in his career, learning first base and much more. View full video

WEST PALM BEACH — Connor Norby joked after Friday’s game that he felt “like a wild horse that they let run free.” It was the 25-year-old’s first game in the outfield as a Miami Marlin, an experiment the team is trying out in order to keep Norby’s bat in the lineup. Norby, a full-time third baseman since arriving in Miami in 2024, has been lackluster in that spot. In each of his last two seasons, he recorded five outs below average at the hot corner, according to Baseball Savant. On Friday against the Houston Astros, he caught all three fly balls hit to him, including one off Jose Altuve on the first at-bat of the game. “You kind of just let your athleticism take over a little bit, and it also helps when you have (center fielder Jakob Marsee) covering your back too,” Norby said. 66rp4p.mp4 It’s that increased freedom of movement that has seemingly injected some life into an already-enthusiastic Norby. “I've had maybe two or three days out there, and I've loved every day so far,” Norby said. “I treat it like recess, almost.” Norby, who was traded from the Baltimore Orioles at the 2024 trade deadline, last played the outfield in 2024 while with the Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate, the Norfolk Tides. He played 77 games between left and right field in 2023 and 2024. Norby's primary position used to be second base, and he had never played third until he joined the Marlins organization. He has also played two games at first base this spring. Despite the struggles at third base and the willingness to play the outfield, Norby maintains he feels most comfortable at third. “I feel great at third,” Norby said. “I feel like my feet are really good right now…I feel like last year, I made really good strides in learning the position and getting better with it. And that's the goal, is to be better there. We have a really good defensive team, especially a defensive infield, and I gotta do my part as well.” Notes -Kyle Stowers left the game in the fourth inning with right hamstring tightness. He missed games earlier in spring with a Grade 1 strain of that same hamstring. -Eury Pérez allowed two runs and four hits in five innings against a Houston Astros lineup that featured most of their starters. -Dillon Lewis hit a go-ahead grand slam in the seventh inning. View full article

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.—It’s hard to extrapolate spring training success to the regular season. But Chris Paddack is checking all the boxes. Saturday was Paddack’s third start of the spring, and he continued to look as solid as one can be this early in the calendar. The 30-year-old right-hander pitched three shutout innings, allowing just two hits and walking zero. For all of his struggles the last few years, he has consistently been one of the best in the league at limiting free passes, and he’s carried that control into Grapefruit League play this year with one walk over six innings pitched as a Miami Marlin. “Thought he had a good heater today,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “He's really playing well. Ability to get right up towards the top, and with the changeup that he has behind that.” lm09cq.mp4 Paddack was originally drafted by the Marlins in 2015 and was traded to the San Diego Padres in 2016, making his MLB debut in 2019. After an impressive rookie season that saw him record a 3.33 ERA, he has struggled to find the same success, pitching to a 5.06 ERA in six seasons since. What will separate Paddack from his previous performances will be the effectiveness of his breaking pitches, each of which have had a negative run value from 2021-2025, according to Baseball Savant. This spring, Paddack added a sweeper to his arsenal. He’s cautiously optimistic about its impact on his game. “We still have some chipping away to do,” Paddack said “It's not going to be that negative-18 (inches of horizontal break), negative-20 that you see some of these guys throw.” Paddack throws with a naturally pronated wrist, meaning his wrist and forearm closes and internally rotates as the ball is released. This doesn’t benefit or detract from his production, but it does lend itself to making certain pitches easier or harder to throw. Four-seam fastballs and changeups, for example, are typically more effective this way. The opposite of pronation is supination, which makes it easier to throw sweepers and other pitches characterized by spin. Paddack has been picking the brains of other pitchers that throw good spin pitches and breaking down film to look at his wrist position. “We're so close for it to catch,” Paddack said. “And it will be negative-12, negative-15 consistently. I would like it to be a little bit harder. It's kind of mirroring the curveball right now.” Last year, the Marlins deployed news training sessions for pitchers called “pitch design” where they throw a bullpen with real-time pitch data. It’s perfect for scenarios like this, where a pitcher wants to tinker with something new. “I get feedback from guys that are on my side, not trying to take my lunch money,” Paddack said. “And if they do clip me, they're able to walk me through, ‘Hey, this is what we saw,' or, 'That one was good—that one was better than the first one you threw.’” Other notes - The second round of cuts from Marlins big league camp consisted of right-hander Karson Milbrandt, first baseman Nathan Martorella and outfielders Dillon Lewis and Fenwick Trimble. Milbrandt, Lewis and Trimble are all Fish On First Top 30 prospects, but none have played above the Double-A level. There are now 61 players left in camp. - Janson Junk (right ankle sprain) made his 2026 Grapefruit League debut on Saturday, striking out two and allowing zero runs in his one inning of work. - Anthony Bender (right tibial stress reaction) and Andrew Nardi (left finger blister) are scheduled to make their first live game appearances of the spring on Tuesday. View full article

At Marlins Media Day, catcher Liam Hicks speaks with Fish On First about building up his bat speed and arm strength during the offseason, and why this team could exceed expectations again. View full video

MIAMI—The Miami Marlins knew it would be an uphill battle to get Liam Hicks up to speed at the major league level. They selected him in the Rule 5 draft this past offseason, marking just the fifth time in 15 years a catcher had been taken. Picked in the ninth round of the 2021 amateur draft by the Texas Rangers, Hicks was traded to the Detroit Tigers organization in 2024, and had never played above Double-A prior to this year. Hicks was eligible for the Rule 5 because he was a former college draftee who had been left off his team's 40-man roster at the end of his fourth professional season. That's not uncommon—the development process is more gradual for catchers than players at other positions. They are rarely taken in the Rule 5 because the learning curve is particularly steep for them when making the transition to the majors. For context, you’d have to go back to 2007 to find a catcher who had any modicum of success after being picked in the Rule 5, when the Washington Nationals selected Jesús Flores. The then-23-year-old had a very respectable year in DC, slashing .244/.310/.361 in 79 games and starting 42 of them. He accumulated 0.4 fWAR. The performance was good enough to earn him the starter role next year and carve out a solid career with the Nationals through 2012. Hicks did not have the best start to his rookie campaign. But a pregame conversation with catching coach Joe Singley in late April injected confidence in Hicks that he belonged at this level. It was a road game against the Philadelphia Phillies, and his batting average stood at a paltry .179 with a 20% strikeout rate -- not bad, but certainly too high for someone who prides himself on bat-to-ball skills. Singley told Hicks to stop putting too much pressure on himself and enjoy the opportunity. It was a simple message, but an effective one. Hicks went 4-for-5 later that night with four RBI, and hit his first career home run. "You're just one game away," Hicks said. "You're struggling a little bit, you're just one game away from everything being alright." Five months later, he has etched himself into an expanded role, starting 93 games, with 62 of them at catcher and 23 at first base. His 94 OPS+ is the best from a full-time Marlins catcher since Nick Fortes in 2022. His .346 on-base percentage is sixth-best among rookies with at least 300 plate appearances this year. Offensively, the 26-year-old has a unique hitting profile. He doesn’t hit the ball hard—he only has six home runs and is near the bottom of the league in average exit velocity and barrel rate—but he has near-elite plate discipline and solid bat-to-ball skills. His chase rate of 17.4% is behind only Juan Soto, Gleyber Torres, and Trent Grisham. He’s also in the 92nd percentile in whiff rate at 15.1% and is fourth-best among rookies in walk rate at 11.0%. The hard work to get to this point started a month before spring camp even started. Singley worked with Hicks in January in West Palm, along with minor league catcher Ryan Ignoffo. “He put his nose to the grindstone from day one,” Singley said. "It’s just a testimony to who he is as a human, being able to climb up that battle, make the team, stay here all year. He's worked his tail off literally every single day. And I don't think that's possible if he's not the human that he is." From the start, they worked on being more explosive and athletic, keeping strikes as strikes, blocking the ball, and throwing. Hicks said he and Singley will look back at film from those early workouts and laugh at how unpolished it looked. “We were watching the first video of me receiving—he's literally just flipping the ball to me, and it looks terrible,” Hicks said. “And we were just laughing at how much better it looks now when it's a full-speed MLB game with guys throwing 100 miles per hour, and you're making it look a little bit better than when we were just flipping it underhand.” Ironically, receiving is what Hicks excelled at the most this year. He has recorded plus-one blocks above average and average framing, per Statcast. Singley attributed the improvement to Hicks’ ability to get his body in better athletic shape. “The work he's put in has been tremendous,” Singley said. “Every day, there's a heavy urgency to get better. Grading on a curve, performing at league average as a catcher who never played above Double-A is pretty impressive. But Hicks knows—taking a saying from his catching coach—“there’s still a lot of meat on the bone.” “Average isn't really the standard. We want to be a lot better than that,” Hicks said. “Joe's a guy that's gonna want to work every day. He's gonna hold you accountable. He studies the game so much from a catching perspective. There's no one I trust more about catching than him.” The main critique about Hicks’ 2025 campaign is inability to throw out runners. He’s only caught 10.5% of attempted base-stealers, and his pop time of 2.00 seconds is near the bottom of the league. Singley said the organization is putting catchers through a “throwing boot camp,” with emphasis for Hicks being on improving his mobility, arm strength, and quick release. “Just continue to stack the days,” Singley said. “Hopefully he shows up next year with a rocket and stops everything behind the plate. That's the goal.” View full article

MIAMI, Fla.—The script flipped very quickly Friday night. After being held to one hit and no runs in the first four innings, the Miami Marlins put up six runs against the New York Mets in the fifth and coasted to a 6-2 win at loanDepot park. Sandy Alcantara, meanwhile, ended the night by retiring 15 of the last 17 hitters he faced after allowing six hits and two runs in his first three innings, including a leadoff home run to Francisco Lindor. Rookie starting pitcher Brandon Sproat cruised through the Marlins order the first time around. The Marlins didn’t get their first hit until Xavier Edwards singled up the middle to begin the fourth. Liam Hicks then grounded into a double play and Otto Lopez popped out to third base, ending any possible rally. They would not let the next leadoff hit go to waste. Down 2-0, Griffin Conine and Troy Johnston started the fifth with a couple of singles, and were driven home on a Heriberto Hernández triple into the right field corner. After Graham Pauley grounded out to first, Jakob Marsee hit a similar grounder to the same spot. But first baseman Pete Alonso bobbled the ball, allowing Hernández to score and take the lead. The Marlins tacked on three more runs in the frame. An RBI single from Edwards scored Agustín Ramírez, who had stolen third base when Ronny Mauricio was playing deep on the infield and not covering the bag, putting him in position to score on anything in the outfield. That was followed by a two-run pinch-hit home run from Connor Norby. daw7ow.mp4 It was a nice gift of run support to Alcantara, making his final start of 2025. The 30-year-old right-hander needed 55 pitches to get out of the first three innings. He was leaving pitches over the heart of the plate, and throwing his pitches a couple ticks slower than usual—his sinker averaging two miles per hour slower than his season mark during the first three innings. Marlins manager Clayton McCullough attributed the rough start to Alcantara not being able to find his rhythm. It was a problem that he faced earlier this year as he returned from Tommy John surgery that kept him out all of 2024. “Early in the season, not sure how that one would have gone,” McCullough said. “Now, he's just able to put things together much differently. And then he finds another gear late in games.” 21e4dfd2-d37c3504-3d5c5102-csvm-diamondgcp-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4 Alcantara did not allow any runs or hits after those first three innings. The final 12 outs he recorded were groundouts, reminiscent of his 2022 Cy Young season where his 54.2% ground ball rate was in the top 10th percentile. “That's when the action of his pitches is working as they should,” McCullough said. “He's getting over the sinker, you got the changeup with depth, and now with how his spin balls have just improved through the year, that’s Sandy at his best. That's when you know that the action late on the pitches is there. The hitters are seeing it coming in, and then it dive bombs late.” Overall, this was the least effective season of Alcantara's career (5.36 ERA). However, he went a long way toward reestablishing himself as a high-quality innings-eater down the stretch, completing at least six frames in each of his final eight outings. The game was a huge blow to the Mets’ playoff chances. New York came into Friday with a one-game lead over the Cincinnati Reds for the final NL Wild Card spot, who took care of business on their end by defeating the Milwaukee Brewers. The Reds own the head-to-head tiebreaker should both teams finish the weekend with the same record. The Arizona Diamondbacks are also still mathematically alive. The playoff nature of Friday’s game may have contributed to the adrenaline as Alcantara walked off the mound after being pulled in the eighth inning. With trade rumors swirling since last winter, he tipped his cap to the 34,196 fans that gave him a standing ovation. "I was close to crying,” Alcantara said. “I don't know what's going to happen after Sunday. I’m just trying to take every special moment that I have with my teammates. I play for the Marlins. So I'm not going to say this is my last start here in Miami. Let's see what happens. We gotta get ready in spring training and try to win more games than we did this year.” Probable starters for Saturday's 4:10 p.m. game are Eury Pérez and Clay Holmes. View full article